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Unable to Restore Bookmarks After Refresh [...solved?]

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  • Last reply by cor-el

nyxelestia
nyxelestia
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tl;dr - Refreshed Firefox, most of my profile has restored normally, but not Bookmarks (or Browsing History). I cannot restore Bookmarks from the .json backups, and I do not have an HTML backup.

Firefox would not load any pages this morning, even after updating to most recent version (89) and restarting the app then the entire computer, so I refreshed Firefox. Good news is, pages load now! Bad news is my bookmarks all disappeared, and they were still gone even after I made the Bookmarks Toolbar visible. The Import Bookmarks button only gives me the option to import from Internet Explorer or Chrome, but not from previous version of Firefox.

I went to Manage Bookmarks, and the Import and Backup seems to have some recent bookmark back-ups, giving me options for back-ups from today (Monday) then Saturday (last new bookmark), etc. But when I try to import bookmarks this way, it says Unable to process the backup file. My Firefox profile has backups, but only as .json files, no HTML bookmark files, which is the only other importing option. The rest of my profile seems to have imported fine - when I go to my inboxes or regularly visited websites, I'm still logged in.

Strangely, Firefox also seems to have forgotten my browsing history. In the URL bar, it'll show my search history, but not my visited pages, which makes the lack of Bookmarks even more aggravating and harder to deal with.

Edit: I restarted the app again and this time, my bookmarks were in place, and my browsing history is back when I type into the URL bar. I do not know how to mark this question as solved or delete this question.

'''tl;dr - Refreshed Firefox, most of my profile has restored normally, but not Bookmarks (or Browsing History). I cannot restore Bookmarks from the ''.json'' backups, and I do not have an HTML backup.''' Firefox would not load any pages this morning, even after updating to most recent version (89) and restarting the app then the entire computer, so I refreshed Firefox. Good news is, pages load now! Bad news is my bookmarks all disappeared, and they were still gone even after I made the Bookmarks Toolbar visible. The Import Bookmarks button only gives me the option to import from Internet Explorer or Chrome, but not from previous version of Firefox. I went to Manage Bookmarks, and the Import and Backup seems to have some recent bookmark back-ups, giving me options for back-ups from today (Monday) then Saturday (last new bookmark), etc. But when I try to import bookmarks this way, it says Unable to process the backup file. My Firefox profile has backups, but only as .json files, no HTML bookmark files, which is the only other importing option. The rest of my profile seems to have imported fine - when I go to my inboxes or regularly visited websites, I'm still logged in. Strangely, Firefox also seems to have forgotten my browsing history. In the URL bar, it'll show my search history, but ''not'' my visited pages, which makes the lack of Bookmarks even more aggravating and harder to deal with. '''Edit: I restarted the app ''again'' and this time, my bookmarks were in place, and my browsing history is back when I type into the URL bar. I do not know how to mark this question as solved or delete this question.'''

Modified by nyxelestia

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cor-el
cor-el
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Do you see compressed .jsonlz4 backups in the bookmarkbackups folder in the current profile folder and in profile in the "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop ?

It sounds that places.sqlite is still corrupted, even after the refresh.

If you use Sync then best is to disconnect Sync temporarily during troubleshooting.

This can be caused by a problem with the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite databases in the Firefox profile folder.

  • use "Verify Integrity" button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page

If errors are reported with "Verify Integrity", close and restart Firefox or reboot and retry.

If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair places.sqlite, rename/remove all places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed. Firefox will rebuild places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from a recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

  • keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created

You lose the history when a new places.sqlite is created.

You may have to restore an older JSON backup.

See also:

You can use the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.